Improvement in revolving fire-arms



D. B. WBSSON zzn J. H. BULLA'RD.

Revolving Fire-Arm.

m4198228. Patented Dec. 18,1877.

UNITED STATES PATENT y )EEIcEA DANIELE. wESsoN AND JAMESEQBULLAEII,

or SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 5.

SAID BULL'ARD ASSIGNOB TO SAID WESSON. j

"IMPROVEMENT 1N REvoLvlNG finan-ARMS'.`

vSpeciiication forming part of Letters PatentrNo; 198,228,1dated December 18, 1 8'77 application lcd Y, I, August 3, 1877. v v

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, DANIEL B. WESSON and J AMES H. BULLARD, both of Springeld, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and ,useful Improvement in Fire-Arms; and that-the following is afull, clear, and eX- act description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

One part of our'invention relates particularly to revolving fire-arms, while the other part is equallywell adapted to be used in revolving or other fire-arms of any and every description, the object of the invention being to cause the cylinder of arevolving firearm to be automatically stopped, and held or locked lin a stationary position when the hammer is left in its normal position, while the cylinder is left free to revolve when the hammer is held in another position, and also to cause the ham mer to rebound after having struck the iiringpin or the shell, to explode the cartridge.

.g Our invention consists, first, of a cylinderlsop, combined and arranged with the tummovement of the cylinder-stopis so controlled as to be prevented from being disengaged from the cylinder, and the latter unlocked while the point of the trigger is in the half-cock notch 5 and it consists, also, of a stirrup suspended in A the loop of the mainspring and pivoted to the rear side of the tumbler, and arranged to have a bearing against the tumbler inthe samedirection Vas the line of its movement, either above or below the pivot which secures the stirrup to the tumbler, whereby, when the hammer, in its forwardmovement, reaches the point to which it is to rebound, the stirrup ben comes rigid with the hammer and tumbler,

and with the trigger provided with a cam, so that by the impingement of the cam against the tumbler at the desired point theV the barrel, and Gthe cylinder of a revolving irefarm, with the recesses b made in the cylinder, in which the end of the stop enters, to. lock the cylinder in a stationary position. B is the tumbler, pivoted in the frame, the upper part of which serves as the hammer, and is made in one solid piece with the tumbler 5 and the latter is provided withv the shoulders orprojections a and v c, ordinarily called notches, against which the point ofthe trigger engages in the operation of discharging' the arm. E is the trigger, pivoted, as usual,- in the-frame, in the forward part of which is a recess, e, toreceive the rear end of the cylin. dcr-stop F, also pivoted in the frame in front.

vof the trigger, the forward end of the stop projecting upward, and arranged to enter the i recesses b in the cylinder, The forward upper part of the trigger terminates in a point, u, which, when the hammer is pulled back, en-

gages with the shoulder c, but which, whenthe hammer stands at the position of rebound,

engages withthe shoulder a, as shown in the drawing. Upon the upper part of the trigger E is made a small projection or cam, h, which, when the hammer is down, as shown in the drawing, impinges against the eXtreme outer part of the projection or shoulder c. To the rear part of the tumbler B, at o, is pivoted the stirrup I, the upper end of which is hung in the loop at the forward end Aof the main spring D in the ordinary manner.

The rear edge of the tumbler, in front of the stirrup, is made of any desired form, whether curved or straight, but in Such manner that when the hammer, in its forward movement,

reaches the point to which it is to rebound,

the rear edge of the tumbler, in front of the stirrup, will strike against the front edge of the stirrup at some point below the pivot o.

The operation of our invention is as follows: In its position of rebound the hammer stands with the point n of the trigger just behind the shoulder a and nearly at its outer extremity, the protuberanoe or cam h on the upper part yof the trigger bearing against the shoulder c, and preventing the point of the trigger from passing in the entire depth of the shoulder a. When in this position the'rear end of the cyl- Inder-stop F bears against the lower side of the recess e in the forward part of the trigger, and the forward end ofthe stop projects a little into one of the holes b in the cylinder, and prevents the latter from revolving, or holds it in a stationary position. If, however, the hammer be pulled back slightly, or the lower part of the tumbler B is rotated forward a little, so that the shoulder c will pass just in front of the cam h, to permit the point n of thetrigger topass back the entire depth of the shoulder a., the lower edge of the recess e in the trigger will bear up against the rear end of the stop F, and force its forward end down and entirely out of the recess b in the cylinder; and the latter may then be rotated freely.

As the hammer continues its backward movement, as in the act of cooking it, the

i point n of thel trigger is carried forward and downward again, and the forward end of the stop is thereby permitted to enter one of the recesses b, and stop the motion of the cylinder; and the stop continues to be forced into this recess as long as the forward part of the trigger is thrown forward by this rotating movement of the tumbler 5 and when the point a of the trigger is engaged with the shoulder c of the tumbler, or is in the cock notch, and the hammer is cocked, the cylinder remains locked, and is not permitted to revolve again until the hammer is let forward, or the tulnbler is rotated backward again, so that the point n of thef trigger can pass back the entire depth of the shoulder a..

When the hammer is cocked and the point n of the trigger is against the shoulder c or cock-notch of the tumbler, if the trigger is pulled, as in the act of discharging the arm, the hammer is quickly thrown forward by the force exerted upward upon the rear part of the tumbler B, by the mainspring D and stirrup I, andthe hammer iiies forward to explode the shell into a position with the shoulder a, just in rear of the extreme point n of the trigger, the said shoulder moving back a little past the point of the trigger.

After striking the shell the hamm er instantly rebounds to a position with the shoulder a, just in front of the trigger-point u, this rebounding movement of the hammer being accomplished by the drawing back of the upper end of the stirrup (and of the hammer also, which is then rigid with the stirrup) by the main spring, so that, if the trigger be released from the finger-pressure, its point n will move in a little from the outer end of the shoulder a, and with the cam h bearing against the shoulder 0. y

Itwill be seen from the above description that, if the trigger is pulled when the hammer is cocked, as the hammer flies forward, the

stirrup I, as it moves upward, has also a rotary movement upon its pivot o in the tumbler; but when the hammer, in its forward movement, reaches the point to which it is to rebound, or to the position with the point fn of the trigger, in the same plane with the shoulder a., the front edge of the stirrup comes into contact with, and bears against the rear edge of the tumbler, at a point below the pivot o, this bearing being in the same direction as the line of movement of the tumbler. The stirrup is thereby prevented from rotating upon its pivot o, and, during the remaining forward movement of the hammer, the stirrup becomes rigid with, and substantially a solid part of, the hammer, and moves with it, losing its own independent movement, and the upper end of the stirrup rides forward and upward a little out of the loop at the forward end of the mainspring, until the shell is struck and the cartridge exploded, when the elastic force of the mainspring draws the stirrup back again until its hook, at the upper end, has a firm. bearing in the loop of the mainspring, the hammer being also drawn back, as before described.

As thusarranged the arm is absolutely free from all liability of accidental or premature discharge by careless handling, as it can, in no case, be Adischarged without pulling the trigger for that purpose when the hammer is cocked, and the cylinder cannot be rotated to bring a cartridge into line with the barrel without pulling back the hammer for that particularly purpose.

It is evident that the stirrup maybe pivoted :at its lower end to the tumbler, and a shoulder made upon the latter, just behind the stirrup, and above its pivot o, against which the stirrup would come in contact, and have a bearing. The stirrup and tumbler would operate in preciselyy the same way, without any change of construction in the parts, the only change `being a change of location of the pivot o, and

point of contact of the edge of the stirrup with the edge of the tumbler.

Having thus described our invention, what 1. In a revolving fire-arm, thet rigger E, provided with the cam h,in combination with the tumbler B and the cylinder-stop F, whereby the latter is prevented from being disengaged from the cylinder, and the latter unlocked while the point of the trigger is in the safety or half-cock notch, substantially as described.

2. The stirrup l, suspended, at its upper end, in the loop of the mainspring, and pivoted to the rear side of the tumbler, and having a bearing against the said tumbler in the direction of the line of its movement, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth,

DANIEL B. WESSON. JAMES I-I. BULLARD.

Witnesses:

T. A. GURTrs, C. E. BUCKLAND. 

